Sand in my Salad

There is nothing like a good salad. Lettuce is just the beginning. 

I like to add broccoli, carrots, red peppers, yellow peppers, tomatoes, bacon bits, cheese, boiled egg, purple onion, raisins, cilantro, grapes, apple, nuts, peas, corn . . .you get the idea.

But today I have a special ingredient. It came on its own, completely uninvited . . . 
Sand

Yep, that’s right, “sand.” How on earth did sand get in my salad? 

Well, I just happen to be sitting at the beach. Early this morning I headed to the coast to spend some time in the sun and enjoy the ocean. I brought the salad with me. So here we are, sitting in the sun (salad and I). In crunching down I’m discovering grit. Hmmm. Oh well, a little sand in the salad never hurt anyone.

Why am I so accommodating? Normally I would not be happy with sand in my salad. It’s all  about the context. I’m at the beach. I’m thinking happy thoughts.

When at the beach, it's a given, sand will get into and on everything. If you don’t like sand, stay away from the beach. 

I just watched a mother fuss at her little boy as he trampled across their beach blanket with his little sandy feet.  “Look at what you did!” she exclaimed, "You got sand all over the blanket!"

Are you kidding me? "Hellooooo!" I wanted to call out to her. "Excuse me ma'am but that is what children do at the beach. That is what the beach is all about. You honestly thought you could keep that blanket clean?" Pahleeze!

Sigh.

Isn’t that the way it is? We have this idea about how things should be, or how we would like them to be. For example, who wouldn’t LOVE a day at the beach where sand did not stick to you, and where your chair, towels and blankets remained sand free. But who would be foolish enough to think they could pull that off?

Life is gritty. If you don’t want “sand in your life”  

get off the beach. 

Can’t do it. Everywhere we turn someone is kicking up the sand, or the wind is blowing it, or you step into it. No matter how many precautions you take, sand gets in your life. It just does.

You can accept it - eat the salad with the sand, and enjoy the sun and ocean.
Or, you can reject it -try to keep your blanket clean, and miss the joy of little boys with sandy feet.

Personally, I’ve discovered that it’s easier to accept the grit of life than to fight it.

So . . .I’ll sit here and eat my salad; enjoying the pieces that don’t have sand, while I watch that cute little boy build sandcastles and get sand on his mother’s blanket.

Life is a beach.